Web application security - the fast guide 1.1 | Page 41
Chapter 2 - Web Application technologies
P a g e | 41
Web services are web application components that allow receiving a request and
responding through XML based messages.
There are now two main schools to develop web services the first is the
traditional based on SOAP Protocol and the new simpler called REST web service.
SOAP is “Simple Object Access Protocol” and it is used to encapsulate message
between sender and receiver.
Example of SOAP Syntax:
...
...
...
Traditional services also depend on a XML based document created with a
language called WSDL (web service description language) it specifies the location
of the service and the operations (or methods) the service exposes.
The new REST approach is simpler it tries to omit the heavy weight standard
depending on Plain Old XML (POX)
Where (REST) is Representational state transfer a style of architecture in which
requests and responses contain state information.
As example the following URL with parameters:
http://skcomputerco.com/proejcts.php?category=design&size=big
Is written in the REST style as
http://skcomputerco.com/proejcts/design/big
the result as mentioned will be returned in XML format.
GET /projects/design/big HTTP/1.1
Host: skcomputerco.com
Accept: text/xml
Accept-Charset: utf-8